quote:David Cameron has confirmed he expects to sign a deal early next week with Scotland's first minister Alex Salmond agreeing to stage a Scottish independence referendum.

That deal, which is nearly complete, will give the Scottish parliament the temporary legal power to stage a single "yes or no" question referendum on staying in or leaving the UK, overseen by the UK Electoral Commission.

Salmond has already privately conceded that his hopes of finding allies or civic leaders able to campaign for a second question, on the electorally popular issue of much greater devolution within the UK, have been dashed.

Cameron told the Conservative conference in Birmingham he expected to see Salmond on Monday and said there was nothing "more important than saving our United Kingdom".

He said Salmond was unsettled by the displays of loyalty to the UK from British athletes at the Olympics. "Whether our athletes were English, Scottish, Welsh or from Northern Ireland, they draped themselves in one flag. Now, there's one person who didn't like that and he's called Alex Salmond," Cameron said.